Scintillation detectors may generally be used to detect relatively high energy photons, electrons or alpha particles wherein high energy may be 1 KeV or higher, including α-particles or β-particles. It may be appreciated that these photons, electrons or alpha particles may not be easily detected by conventional photodetectors, which may, for example, be sensitive to photons at wavelengths of 200 nm or greater, including 200 nm to 800 nm. A scintillator, or scintillation crystal, ceramic or plastic, may absorb ionizing waves or particles and convert the energy of the waves or particles to a light pulse. The light may be converted to electrons (i.e., an electron current) with a photodetector such as a photodiode, charge coupled detector (CCD) or photomultiplier tube. Scintillation detectors may be used in various industries and applications including medical (e.g., to produce images of internal organs), geophysical (e.g., to measure radioactivity of the earth), inspection (e.g., non-destructive, non-invasive testing), research (e.g., to measure the energy of photons and particles), and health physics (e.g., to monitor waves or particles in the environment as it affects humans).
Scintillation detectors may typically include either a single scintillator or a number of scintillators arranged in an array (also referred to herein as a scintillator). Many scanning instruments may include scintillation detectors that may be comprised of pixellated arrays of scintillators. Arrays may consist of a single row of adjoining scintillator pixels (linear array) or multiple rows and columns of adjoining scintillator pixels (2-D array). Linear and 2-D arrays may include thousands of scintillator pixels and the system may be constructed and arranged so that an emission from each pixel can be individually detected by a photodetector.
Individual scintillators within a scintillation detector may be covered on one or more sides by a reflector that may reflect light generated by a scintillator back into the scintillator, increasing the detectable signal. Reflectors may also be utilized to prevent cross-talk between scintillators in an array, i.e., prevent light generated by a scintillator from entering another scintillator in the array. A reflector may be positioned proximal to the scintillator by an adhesive. The adhesive may be applied as a polymer precursor that may be cured once applied to the scintallator. The scintillators including the reflectors may then be assembled into an array or provided as a single scintillator, which may then be positioned within the scintillation detector.